This invention relates to crop harvesters and, more particularly, to improvements in auger assemblies utilized in such equipment.
Harvesters that mow standing grain crops and place the severed materials into a windrow typically utilize wide, flat aprons or draper belts for conveying the severed materials to a discharge opening on the machine through which the materials are ejected and formed into a windrow. Some manufacturers have started using consolidating augers in lieu of aprons for this purpose, but because the discharge opening is centrally located, the augers must extend in from opposite sides of the machine and terminate at the central opening without support in the area of the opening. This cantilevered mounting arrangement creates challenges in terms of properly supporting each of the auger assemblies and in supplying driving power thereto.
Accordingly, one important object of the present invention is to provide an improved way of supporting and driving crop harvester auger assemblies, particularly those utilized in connection with grain harvesting machines in which the mowed crops are gathered to a central opening on the machine immediately following severance and discharged through such opening to form a windrow. Each auger assembly in accordance with the present invention includes an internal, elongated, stationary support that is housed within a coaxial outer housing that rotates on the support. A power device, preferably in the form of a hydraulic motor, is housed within the support but has an output shaft projecting axially from the support and into a hollow chamber within the auger housing, at which location the shaft is drivingly connected to the wall of the housing.